It will probably come as a surprise to many people that there were a large number of Canadians who were working, living, or travelling in the Soviet Union, including Ukraine, at the time of the Great Famine of 1932-1933. Among these were eight professional journalists from Canada, three of whom together filed more than one hundred and thirty news stories written about the Soviet Union during the Holodomor. In addition to their articles, the Canadian press also carried reports by international wire service agencies and reprints of items by American and British correspondents, as well as serialized personal accounts and interviews documenting conditions experienced by individuals employed by or visiting “Red Russia” as tourists.

Jars Balan’s presentation focused on just one Canadian reporter, Frederick Griffin of the Toronto Star, who spent seven weeks between mid-May and the second week of July 1932 roving around the Soviet Union and writing up his firsthand impressions of what he saw—while at the same time revealing what he did not see, misrepresented, or chose to ignore.

A recording of this Webinar presentation can be found here.

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